As the witnessing presence of Awareness, we stand in the background of experience; as the light of pure Knowing, we stand at its heart.

The Knowing/Being Element In All Experience

What connection, if any, does the clearing of unconscious, limiting beliefs have with awakening and self-realization?

Hi Rupert,

What connection, if any, does the clearing of unconscious, limiting beliefs have with awakening and self-realization? As the energy of these are released I have, over time, known more peace, more capacity to be loving, powerful expressions of wisdom and compassion. But it seems these are independent from and not connected to awakening and self-realization.

Thanks,

Len

Dear Len,

Len: What connection, if any, does the clearing of unconscious, limiting beliefs have with awakening and self-realization?

Rupert: All these unconscious, limiting beliefs have their origin in one single limiting belief, and that is the belief that what we are, Consciousness, the Knowing/Being element in all experience, is limited, locate and separate.

However, even this belief itself is only possible because of the Consciousness that illumines and knows it. In other words, nothing needs to happen to this belief in order for Consciousness to be present. Consciousness is always present irrespective of the appearance of the mind or body.

It is the belief that the Consciousness that is seeing these words is limited and located that is the mother of all psychological problems. Similarly it is the clear seeing that Consciousness is not limited or located that are their resolution.

So do not battle with your belief….that is more of the same. Simply see that the belief that we are a separate entity is simply that, a belief. A belief cannot stand being clearly seen. It will die of exposure in due course.

I have given many examples on my site and in other places as to how one might investigate this belief at the level of the mind and, more importantly, explore it at the level of the body. But this investigation and exploration is not undertaken with any regard to destroying ignorance, but rather to seeing that it is non-existent.

It is in this experiential clarity that this possibility becomes ones own experience.

Len: As the energy of these are released I have, over time, known more peace, more capacity to be loving, powerful expressions of wisdom and compassion. But it seems these are independent from and not connected to awakening and self-realization.

Rupert: The release of these energies that are locked up in the mind and body are deeply connected to awakening. However, they proceed FROM it. They do not precede it. It is true that as the mind and body are liberated from the tyranny of the apparent entity, this light of love and understanding flows through them, and this has an effect on all realms of our lives, as you rightly say, as ‘more peace, more capacity to be loving, powerful expressions of wisdom and compassion.’

Having said that, it may be that in some cases a certain period of time will be spent exploring the expressions of the separate self in conventional therapeutic ways, before the focus of interest naturally gravitates towards the ‘I’ itself.

In other words, to begin with we may feel ‘I am sad,’ ‘I am lonely,’ ‘I am frustrated,’ ‘I want to be loved,’ ‘I am unfulfilled, etc. but sooner or later we turn our attention towards this ‘I’ itself and forget about all of its accretions of sadness, loneliness, frustration etc. And in due course all the subtler accretions that seemed to be inherent in the ‘I,’ such as being born, located, limited etc., fall away, leaving the ‘I’ standing in its own Self, revealed as the only ‘I’ there is.